Stars of Fire: Into the Wild
by pokedawnheart
Summary: When Leaders receive their nine lives, they also receive a bracket. Not a collar, but a bracket around their necks that shows their position as Leader in a more physical way. A little fire-ginger kittypet named Rose get curious about the wild forest cats, and enters a whole new world full of mystery, magic and romance.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This idea just sort of came to me randomly 9as all stories do). So, you know how on must fan-made pictures of Clan Leaders has a star somewhere on their body (mainly the forehead, most likely representing the "third eye")? Well, I took that and created this. It is set in the First Ark but it may go on to the next ones with many, many changes. Firestar is a she-cat in this. And don't worry about Alternate Path, I will still be working on it I just hit a few snags.**

 **Anyways, on with the fic. Please read what is just below, as it will explain the Laws of my bracket idea, along with full summary.**

 **Summary: Clan Leaders get nine lives from StarClan, that much we know. But what if there was more? When Leaders receive their nine lives, they also receive a bracket. Not a collar, but a bracket around their necks that shows their position as Leader in a more physical way. A little fire-ginger kittypet named Rose get curious about the wild forest cats, and enters a whole new world full of mystery, magic and romance. But how will she survive after she takes the Bracket of Brokenstar of ShadowClan?**

 **Ideas/Laws of the Brackets:**

 **-A Leader will always have their Bracket, even in death, unless their leadership is taken from them.**

 **-A warrior can only have a Bracket if they defeat a Clan Leader in a fair fight and take their leadership position from them.**

 **-A Leader cannot take another Leader's Bracket unless it is with good cause.**

 **-A warrior cannot take another warriors earned Bracket. The only one who can is StarClan.**

 **-When a warrior takes a Leader's Bracket, a bond is formed between the two until the Bracket is either cleansed of its previous owner, either by the warrior dying or becoming Leader themselves, or the warrior, when or if they become Leader, wishes for a new Bracket, or its former owner dies.**

Into the Wild I

Rose couldn't believe her luck when she finally entered the forest near her home. The sights and smells were so new and confusing and wonderful to the little house-cat. Then she ran into a wild cat-a real live wild cat!-her own age, along with two older ones. And they asked her to join their Clan! Her! A common house cat who only wanted a look! She felt like she was walking on clouds as she walked home, tail high and a proud and happy look in her emerald eyes.

She was up promptly awake right at dawn, excitement tingling in her paws. She felt like she could run the whole way around the forest before the sun was at its highest point in the sky, when she was supposed to meet Lionheart again. But then her heart sank. She'd have to say good-bye to Smudge, who had been her friend for a long time. The good-bye was bittersweet, because they both knew that there was a very good chance that Rose would never go back to being a house cat after she experienced life in the wild. Sitting on her fence, she glanced at her garden for the last time before leaping into the shadowed forest.

She ran until she found the spot where she had met those three wild cats-Graypaw, Lionheart and Bluestar, she remembered. She could scent the stale smells of the three cats, but one was steadily growing stronger. She figured it was Lionheart, as Bluestar had said that Lionheart would return for her answer. She sat down and waited for the golden tabby. He arrived shortly after she did, and seemed surprised to see her for a second. Beside him was a white tom, his amber eyes gleaming with amusement.

Shortly afterward, she was running beside Lionheart and the white tom-Whitestorm. She was having trouble keeping up, mainly because she didn't know the forest as well as the two warriors. They reached a well defended clearing, which proved to be the camp. Cats were mingling around, resting for the most part, while mothers looked after their children. Bluestar was sitting on a very tall rock, watching the Clan with watchful blue eyes. When she noticed the three who had just entered, she gracefully leaped from the rock and walked up to them. As she spoke quietly with the two warriors about what they thought of Rose, she couldn't help but notice something she didn't even think of the night before. There was a bluish-gray collar-like thing around Bluestar's neck with a pure blue star-shaped charm.

The Clan Meeting that was called quickly went downhill. A pale tabby that Lionheart called Longtail continued to taunt her for her collar and past. She crouched while scanning the crowd, her tail thrashing wildly. Her gaze zeroed in on the offensive tom. She kneaded the ground, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. She wanted to make this as embarrassing as possible for the cocky tom. Rose let him go on for a moment, not enough to put her in a fury-that would be dangerous for both cats-but just enough so that she was still very angry.

When he was commenting about her not even surviving "leafbare" she leaped, surprising every cat near her. The battle that resulted was short before Longtail apparently got the idea to choke her with her collar. Hardly able to breathe, Rose started struggling before, with a loud snap, her collar broke and both cats were propelled away from each other. Bluestar called off the fight since Rose had lost her collar and was free from her twolegs, giving Rose the name Firepaw until she received her warrior name.

Firepaw, as she was now known as, quickly found Graypaw with a pale ginger she-cat and a dark brown tom slightly older than Graypaw himself. Firepaw wondered privately if they were also apprentices. Before she could greet the three cats, a small black tom with a white dash on his chest, white tail-tip and green eyes walked into the camp alongside an older dark brown tabby tom with smoldering amber eyes. On the tabby's back was a tortoiseshell cat, and Firepaw could only just see the tortoiseshell's dark ginger tail dragging behind in the dirt. The clan looked shocked at their appearance.

"What has happened?" Bluestar asked, her eyes on the tortoiseshell, whom was lowered to the ground by the tabby while the small black tom looked lost while going to a tunnel of ferns after a sharp look from the tabby.

"RiverClan patrol at Sunning Rocks. Oakheart and Redtail were fighting when rocks fell on them," the tabby commented, ears pinned down in grief. Several wails of grief and sadness echoed the statement and the dark brown tom and the pale ginger she-cat raced forward towards the dead tortoiseshell. Firepaw approached slowly, wondering slightly what the now dead warrior had looked like, before shaking her head and once again heading over to Graypaw. She couldn't help but notice the tabby going down the same fern tunnel that the black tom had gone a few minutes before.

She got the tour of the camp from Graypaw, learning more about Clan life and meeting a few cats. She learned that the tabby was called Tigerclaw and that the black tom was his apprentice Ravenpaw. But there was one thing bothering her.

"Graypaw?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"What's with the thing around Bluestar's neck?"

"You mean the Bracket?" Graypaw asked, somewhat surprised before shaking it off and explaining. "Well, when a deputy becomes leader, not only do they gain nine lives, they also gain a bracket, which represents their authority. Legend has it that a leader can only lose their bracket if a warrior takes that authority away and the warrior gains that bracket in return. Of course, that rarely ever happens."

"Oh, OK," Firepaw responded. She somehow got a very bad feeling about that conversation.

 **Okay, so how was that? For the duration of Into the Wild, no real plot will be made until the very end. For now, there will only be small snapshots of life.**

 **Please review and tell me what you think. The second chapter is in progress.**

 **~pokedawnheart**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so apparently either no one likes this story, or they just didn't review. Seriously people, I need your thoughts on this!**

 **Okay, other than that, the second chapter is finished at last! So please Review when you get the chance. I would love to hear your thoughts on how this turned out!  
**

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Into the Wild II

The first moon of her new life was amazing, with the exception of Longtail, Darkstripe-a dark gray tabby, Sandpaw-the pale ginger she-cat, and Dustpaw-the dark brown tabby. Lionheart and Tigerclaw had started training her since she was never given a mentor. She was secretly very pleased, two great warriors training her along with their own two apprentices. Lionheart was wise and brave, while being the new deputy. Tigerclaw was fierce and loyal and amazing.

Of course, her fist solo hunting mission could have gone better, but it wasn't exactly her fault that Yellowfang arrived when she did. Ok, so she was a little at fault for feeding Yellowfang before her own Clanmates, or maybe she could've found a patrol to help her after defeating the elder she-cat.

She got an official mentor out of all that, though she never expected it to be Bluestar herself. Of course, to put another damper on the situation, Bluestar decided to make Firepaw take care of Yellowfang by herself. That was what her second moon consisted of. Despaired that she would never become a warrior, she started sneaking off at night to train and hunt. She also helped Spottedleaf, the medicine cat, whenever time permitted. It was her philosophy that you should experience every part of the Clan, not just the parts you want to experience. Tigerclaw still took her out for solo training sometimes to make sure she is still working hard. Graypaw and Ravenpaw helped whenever they could, mainly with training.

Right before the full moon Gathering, Firepaw was taken by Bluestar for a training session. Afterwards, Bluestar gave Firepaw, Graypaw and Ravenpaw permission to go to the Gathering. All three apprentices were excited about the chance to meet powerful warriors from other Clans.

It didn't turn out to be a good night. Oh sure, there were great warriors along with their apprentices, queens chatting with one another and all other manor of things. One of the downfalls was that WindClan never showed up. On the same day that Firepaw had found Yellowfang, WindClan had unexplainably disappeared from their territory. Firepaw had a bad feeling that ShadowClan was responsible and Yellowfang had spoken out against it, leading her to be exiled, but she also felt that there was something more going on than meets the eyes. Another was a ShadowClan apprentice who had arrived next to Graypaw and Firepaw during the announcements.

"H-hello" the small tabby meowed. Firepaw took one look at him and knew that he had no business being at a Gathering. He was much too small and was still covered in kit-fuzz.

"Hello," Firepaw meowed back despite the bad feeling she got just by looking at him. "What's your name?"

"L-l-littlepaw" he stammered.

"Just how old are you?" Lionheart, who was sitting nearby, asked kindly. Tigerclaw, who was nearby, took one look at the apprentice and started glaring at Brokenstar, ShadowClan's leader.

"S-s-six m-moons," Littlepaw muttered unsurely.

Firepaw couldn't help but scoff while rolling her eyes. There was no way Littlepaw was six moons.

"Just how long have you been an apprentice?" she asked, just to see what he would say.

"T-three d-days," Littlepaw replied, again sounding unsure.

Shortly after that, Littlepaw left to be with his denmates, all looking younger than they were saying they were.

"There is no way those are apprentices, or even six moons," she muttered darkly, Ravenpaw, Lionheart and Tigerclaw all nodding in agreement. Graypaw just looked a little confused.

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

"Easy," Firepaw said. "He was small, right?"

"Yeah, but his name is 'Littlepaw'. He could have just been smaller than the average kit when he was born," Graypaw argued.

"Did you not notice his nervousness, or his scent? He still smelled strongly like milk and he hadn't got rid of his kit-fuzz yet," Firepaw explained to her friend.

Yet another downer would be Brokenstar's demands for hunting right in all territories! Firepaw felt like cuffing the tom's ears till there was nothing left of them for that demand. The only fun moment was after the Gathering was over. Firepaw decided to, sneakily, let Brokenstar know that she knew about him apprenticing kits too young by approaching the ShadowClan deputy, Blackfoot.

"Excuse me, but I believe that there are some kits from your Clan here. Could you please tell Brokenstar to keep a better eye on his Clan's kits in the future? Especially sense they were saying that they were apprentices. It would be a kindness," Firepaw said all too cheerily with a slight smirk on her face. Firepaw knew that if anyone who know her in her kithood saw her like that, they would be fighting the shivers that would go down their spines. It was a clear warning to Brokenstar that she knew he was breaking the warrior code, but she made it sound to anyone listening that she was just concerned about kits sneaking away from camp and lying about their age and status to RiverClan and ThunderClan.

She quickly left him staring at her in confusion, though she turned her head just in time to see his eyes could with suspicion and anger. She flicked her ear in amusement in clear view of both him and Brokenstar, who's Bracket, she just noticed, had large cracks in its metal. She wondered what that meant, since the Brackets were supposed to represent the trust that StarClan put in a Leader. Once again, she got a very bad feeling about it, but this time the feeling came directly from Brokenstar's Bracket, almost as if it was crying out for her. She shook her head at the notion and carried on back to camp alongside her Clanmates.

But the feeling only got stronger as she walked away and on the days that followed. And she couldn't help but notice that it felt like a storm was beginning to tear at the Clans as more and more days passed.

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 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I always found it odd that none of the ThunderClan cats commented about the ShadowClan apprentices being too young until Yellowfang said something about it when Frostfur's kits went missing. So, did anyone like the confrontation between Firepaw and Blackfoot? That was probably my favorite part to write. This "conversation" will come into play during the raids later on (I will only mention the raid on the ThunderClan camp, as the big part is going to be the raid on ShadowClan). I also added some foreshadowing at the end.**

 **Please review!**

 **~pokedawnheart**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ok, so now people are reviewing. I'm very glad. And I like some of your comments. This chapter was giving me pains to no end but I finally completed it. One more snapshot and it's on to Fire and Ice! Now I would like to comment on two of the few reviews that I have received. First, Katemore-I am exceeding glad you loved the concept of the Brackets. There is a reason that Brokenstar's has cracks in it, which will be revealed next chapter. If anyone wants to guess, I will let them. Second, Ellie Riddle-Black-I am glad that you approve my choice in pairing. While I haven't made any real mentions, there have been hints last chapter about it. Mind you, they are so Slytherin-like they were almost invisible, but they were there.**

 **On with the chapter!**

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Into the Wild III

Mothermouth lay just beyond the crest of a hill. It was a quarter-moon after the Gathering, and Firepaw had been chosen alongside Graypaw, Ravenpaw and Tigerclaw to accompany Bluestar to the mythical Moonstone, which was where medicine cats and leaders could talk with StarClan for advice and wisdom. The sun wasn't yet ready to start setting, so they settled to wait just outside of Mothermouth. When the sun set, Bluestar headed inside the dark tunnel with Tigerclaw and Firepaw. Ravenpaw and Graypaw were on watch duty.

The cavern with the Moonstone was dark when the three cats arrived, but that quickly changed as the moon slid over a hole in the roof. When the moon's light hit the Moonstone, a brilliant flash almost blinded Firepaw. Bluestar didn't seem to mind, walking right up to the shining stone. Tigerclaw was in much the same condition as Firepaw, and quickly left to check on Graypaw and Ravenpaw. Leaving Firepaw as the only awake cat in the cavern.

Shortly afterwards, what appeared to be a shadow of a cat appeared from of the Moonstone and walked right up to Firepaw. As it approached, Firepaw noticed that the cat was a tom, practically hairless with bulging, blind pale gray eyes, twisted long claws and a rat-like tail. She flinched as the sightless gray eyes locked with her emerald gaze, but otherwise didn't move as the strange tom came closer.

"You are doing well," the strange tom commented.

"Who are you?" Firepaw questioned while glancing at Bluestar for a second.

"My name is Rock and I have been watching you for a while now, Firepaw," Rock said with faint amusement.

"What do you mean by that?" Firepaw asked.

"Just as I said it," Rock replied. Firepaw could barely understand it, but she let it be since Rock wasn't going to explain it further.

"Okay, so why appear to me now?" Firepaw asked instead.

"Easy. You see, young Firepaw, your destiny is coming into fruition much sooner than expected, as in ways that even I cannot predict. But I will give a warning: Keep watch of the nursery in coming moons to make sure that no kits go missing," he said, before turning around and walking towards the Moonstone once more. Bluestar woke up at almost instantly afterward, fear in her sapphire-blue gaze. The two she-cats ran through the tunnels back towards the toms outside, before all five cats started running towards camp. There was a brief encounter with a black and white loner named Barley, and a fight with some rats which took one of Bluestar's lives.

They arrived at camp in the afternoon, to chaos. Apparently, ShadowClan had decided to attack the ThunderClan camp since the leader, strongest warrior and three apprentices were gone-though how they knew information was a mystery to Firepaw.

Remembering Rock's warning, Firepaw immediately ran to the nursery, seeing that all the queens were in the middle of the fighting. She caught a glimpse of Rosetail, a tabby she-cat elder with a pinkish-orange tail, fighting Blackfoot in front of the nursery before she was cut down by the huge deputy. Before Firepaw could reach Blackfoot, or warn the Clan that he was there, a russet-ginger she-cat launched herself at Firepaw and the two she-cats started fighting one another. When Firepaw finally broke away from the ShadowClan warrior, she looked over just in time to see Yellowfang pounce on Blackfoot's unguarded back while he was reaching into the nursery to steal some kits. After making Blackfoot flee, Yellowfang grabbed the two kits that Blackfoot had taken out of the nursery, Swiftkit and Lynxkit, and put them back inside. She then preceded to fight off another ShadowClan warrior in front of the nursery, thereby protecting the kits from further danger.

The battle ended shortly after the five returned. Yellowfang was declared a hero with her actions in protecting the kits from ShadowClan. Firepaw was happy for the grouchy gray she-cat that she had helped and healed since Yellowfang was found on ThunderClan territory, after being banished from her birth Clan for reasons that she wouldn't tell anyone. Sadly, Lionheart had died from blood loss. Many cats were understandably upset about his loss.

As night crept on the cats of ThunderClan, the vigil for Lionheart began. Graypaw is understandably upset, as was Firepaw. She remembered how understanding Lionheart always was. She had once asked about how he got his warrior name and had gotten a surprising answer. Apparently, when he was an apprentice himself, he found out that Pinestar, leader before Sunstar-who was leader before Bluestar-had an interest in kittypets and had befriended one. Lionheart had kept it a secret until a battle with RiverClan, after which Pinestar decided to reveal his interest to the Clan and retire from Clan life. Before he left, Pinestar had suggested that Lionheart would be a good warrior name for the apprentice. The funny thing about all that? Pinestar was Tigerclaw's father. But even with that tidbit, Firepaw couldn't help but think that she had heard the name Pinestar from somewhere before that day.

Tigerclaw was named the next deputy, which surprised him but no one else, except Darkstripe maybe. The next few days proved that Bluestar had made a good choice, as Tigerclaw worked cats hard to make sure the camp is well defended. But three days after Tigerclaw was declared deputy, Firepaw discovered something that scared her.

The day had started well enough. Firepaw had gone on a hunting assessment near Tallpines and had encountered Smudge once more. After a quick chase through the woods-mainly because time in ThunderClan didn't let Firepaw recognize her old friend-they started to talk about what their lives had been like since they last saw each other. She had to go back hunting though, so they said goodbye to each other and went their separate ways. When she got back to camp with sizable catch, Firepaw was confronted by Bluestar and Tigerclaw. Apparently, Tigerclaw had been watching her throughout the assessment, so of course he saw engage in conversation with her kittypet friend. Firepaw explained her reasoning as nothing more than old friends catching up, which was what it truly was. Later, after everyone went to sleep, Firepaw started suffering from a nightmare of shadowy cats surrounding her, a single black tom with a white forepaw right in front of her, staring into her emerald eyes with his ice-blue gaze coldly. She woke up, panting and fighting chills that threatened to go down her spine, at moonhigh. Since she knew that she couldn't go back to sleep at that point, she decided to go for a walk.

She found Darkstripe shortly after sneaking out of camp, muttering to himself about a verity of things, mainly on how he should be deputy. He started silently plotting how to kill Tigerclaw, possibly Bluestar as well, and take his "rightful place". While Firepaw mentally scoffed at the idea that Darkstripe should be deputy-never mind leader!-she continued to listen in on the dark gray tabby. He was completing the best ways to kill both deputy and leader-if he could manage it-when something else apparently came to him and he started muttering about some traitor. It wasn't until Darkstripe commented about "stupid, weak kittypets" did Firepaw know that he was talking about her. But then he said something that truly frightened her.

"That stupid little kitty needs to be taken out in any way possible. And what better way to do that then to silence her forever."

Firepaw quietly back away from the clearing which Darkstripe was occupying and hurried back to camp. Curled in her nest, she contemplated what she had overheard. Did she tell anyone? If so, who? Tigerclaw? No, he would never believe her. And even if he did, there was nothing he could do about it. Bluestar? She would probably believe her, but Firepaw didn't have the evidence necessary. Graypaw and Ravenpaw? They would be able to protect if they believed her. That was it always came to, who would believe her over Darkstripe. Besides, ThunderClan had bigger problems to attend to. Namely, Brokenstar. She would have to deal with Darkstripe at a later date and on her own. After all, who would believe a kittypet-turned-apprentice over a Clan-born warrior?

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 **So, how was it? Good, bad? I know I said that I was only going to mention the battle, but I decided against it. Also, who do you think was the cat** **fighting Firepaw during the battle? And what do you guys think about Darkstripe's part in the chapter?**

 **Please read and review.**

 **~pokedawnheart**


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